I know what it is like to have doubts about salvation. And I know how devastating that can be. Sometimes I still question my salvation, and I think about after I die, and stand before God, and I wonder.. what if I am wrong about my salvation?
But out of God´s grace, Christ is becoming more and more real to me, and those doubts and fears seem to be becoming less.
And so I want to share a wonderful verse. And this is why we cannot lose our salvation:

Jesus says in John 6:39:40: ¨Here is what the One who sent me wants me to do: I must not lose even one whom God gave me, but I must raise them all on the last day. Those who see the Son and believe in him have eternal life, and I will raise them on the last day. This is what my Father wants.¨ NCV.

We are in the hands of the Creator of the universe, and those are strong hands... nothing, and nobody can escape his grasp.

I saw this on another blog, and thought it was great.

My mother [spoke to me] in those dark hours when the lamp burned dim, when I thought that faith was gone and shipwreck had been made of my soul. “Christ,” she used to say, “keeps firmer hold on us than we keep on him.”
My mother’s word meant...that salvation by faith does not mean that we are saved because we keep ourselves at every moment in an ideally perfect attitude of confidence in Christ. No, we are saved because having once been united to Christ by faith, we are his forever.

J. Gresham Machen: Selected Shorter Writings

Andrew is 3 months old today.

I was not able to put all the photos on the post below this one, so had to do 2 posts, so don´t miss seeing the other photos.

¨sometimes I don´t know whether to look at it or chew on it¨

¨I love playing with mommy and daddy¨

¨daddy, look down there!¨

Andrew is 3 months old today.

¨Mommy, look at the drawings on the wall!¨

¨I still just don´t know what to think about that camera¨

¨Mommy and Me!¨

¨getting sleepy¨

¨I can move my hand so fast that it´s just a blurr¨.

¨mommy, don´t you have a different color of socks besides pink?¨

¨with this hat on, I feel like a big boy!¨

¨daddy, you know how to make me smile!¨

¨how about putting that camera a bit closer to my mouth¨

¨my mommy and daddy love me¨.

¨daddy, do you see what I see!?¨

Mother and son

This video is probably 10 days old. But the video below this one ¨his morning play time¨ was taken this morning.

his morning play time.

Mr. Andrew

Thats what Elianas Dad calls him, except in Spanish he says ¨Senor Andreo¨.

Babies sure are the center of attention, and it is the same with Andrew. When he smiles, it causes everyone else to smile too.

He is growing, and definately is chubby, but we think that makes him even cuter. I can´t believe how heavy he is getting. When I picked him up, its not near as easy as it used to be.

Today he was wearing the shirt that my mother bought him. It is a hooded shirt, and I believe it is for 6 month olds, but it looks good on him, and is just a little big. Andrew is almost 3 months old.

He loves things with bright colors, especially if they are sparkly. On our bedroom wall, we have some decorations that sparkle, and he just loves looking at those. He ¨Goo´s¨, and makes all sorts of sounds.

We were giving him more formula, but now he is not really wanting it. I don´t know why, but he definately prefers the breast milk. He is drinking about 3 ounces of formula every day, which is very little. But seems to be getting enough breast milk, because he keeps putting on weight.

He often gets fussy when being held, and the person is not walking around or something. He likes to see stuff, and doesn´t like to be sat and held. He likes to play, and when I walk around with him, he takes it all in.

The other day, he was laying on his stomach, and lifting up his head, and kicking his legs. Eliana put her hands on his feet to brace them, and he was able to push himself and move towards the other side of the bed. Everyone says how strong he is, and also how alert he is. I don´t really know how he is compared to other babies, because I have never really taken care of another baby.

The other day, Eliana was holding him, and he decided he wanted to eat, and he went after Elianas face. He got his mouth on her chin, and gave it his best to get some milk out of it. Then he went to her cheek, and did the same. Eliana pulled him away from her face, and he was making lots of noise, and was trying to get back to her face so he could do it again. Eliana was surprised at how strong his mouth was. Andrew does not like the pacifier, but instead wants to suck on his hand. He spits the pacifier out pretty quick, and his expression says ¨this is gross¨.

Andrew lacks hair in different places, which is probably common with babies. In front, it is like he has a receeding hair line, and then on the sides and back he has streaks where the hair is very thin. I think that is where his head is expanding, so his hair gets thin there.

He likes his baths, and will even get to smiling and playing in the water.

Andrew probably weighs between 13 and 14 pounds. We haven´t had him weighed for a while. His M diapers are for babies up to 22 pounds, but I think we will be going to the size Large before then.

Andrew is getting up about once during the night, and then early in the morning. He is up early, and ready to eat and play. In the morning we are wanting to take a video of him for the blog, because that is one of his play times.

I think he is ticklish on his feet, because he was feeding, and I was tickling his feet, and then he stopped feeding, and was moving his feet and legs.

Andrew sneezes when we first go outside, and he see´s the sunlight. I do the same thing, although he does it more often than I do.

Usually he does not really cry, but sometimes when he starts to wake up he will start to cry, and we´ve learned to be quick to let him know that we are there, because he will get scared, and it is hard to calm him down.

Andrew was given his U.S. passport, and is a U.S. citizen from birth. He is also a Peruvian citizen, so he has dual citizenship. God really helped so that we were able to get his U.S. passport. Thank you God!

Yesterday while changing his diaper, he pee´d and got my pants and feet wet. He has not been doing that as much as the first month after he was born, but he got me yesterday. Actually he did it once, and i was trying to clean up, and he did it again before I got a diaper on him.

Before I put him on my chest, and he would just lay there, and go to sleep. But now he is kicking, and moving around, and turning his head. So we have to really hang onto him.

Andrew has a wonderful mother. His parents love him very much.

Tomorrow we hope to get a video on here. I usually email the photos, and put the videos on the blog. If anyone is wanting photos, but is not getting them, please leave a comment with your email. Jenny, I now have your email, so I will also send them to you now.

So I will close this post with the famous words of Mr. Andrew ¨Goooo!, Oeeee, Aaaaa!¨.

our baby

My baby is active and growing

Today was the first time that Andrew began to lift his head and keep it lifted. Before he could lift his head, and turn it the other direction, but not keep it lifted. He seems very excited because he is able to do something new and different. It is incredible that in one day he started doing this, and is able to keep it lifted for about 20 seconds at a time. We have a video of him doing it, but wasn´t able to put in the blog using this computer.
- Eliana

his daily exercises..

Andrew is definately the cute one.

My ministry...

Tonight we were in the church, and Eliana was carrying Andrew, and Andrew was looking at me and smiling. I thought, ¨How good and wonderful is God, because he has given us this precious gift, baby Andrew¨.
I want to be a good father. God has given Eliana and I a ministry, and that ministry is to our son. To love him, care for him, teach him, point him to Christ, to be a light in his life. God has to be first in my life, or my priorities will get mixed up. If I put make something else first in my life, then that will effect how I raise my son. When God is first in my life, I can have the wisdom and understanding and trust in God so that I can give my son the time, attention, love, and dedication that he needs. He needs us so much.
May I not worry about money, because if my eyes are on money, I will seek and seek after money, and not give much attention to my wife and son. I must be content with what God gives us. If I am seeking to have more than what God gives me, and I am not content, that will take me away from my wife and child. That will happen because I will spend my time making money, so that I can have those things. And even then when I am home with my wife and son, I will not feel like giving my attention to them. I can´t worry about money. God feeds the birds and they do not harvest or store up food in barns, but God loves his children more than birds, and so of course God will take care of us. God wants me to trust him. But if I do not trust him, I will worry and worry, and I am seeing this happen to many parents... that worrying about money, and seeking after material things will separate parents from their children.
My wife and child are the most important ministry that I will ever have. All other ministries that I am a part of must not be priority. My job must not be my priority. My responsibilities in the church must not be a priority. Internet or television must not be my priority, and I will tell you, satan would love for me to fall for that temptation, and put lots of time doing things on the internet or watching television, and less attention with my wife and son.
May God help me, and I know he will, because he hears my prayers. My wife and son, they need me so much... I must be there for them. I must be like a servant to my family, because Christ was like a servant to his disciples, and actually to all of us. I must be thinking about them, and not just about myself.
God wants us to put our eyes on Him, and not worry about the other things. God says that if we do that, He will give us the things that we need. God wants us to trust him, and that is why he has given us so many promises.. he wants us to believe that he will keep his word.
Their was a great crowd of people that came to see Jesus, and Jesus wanted to feed them all. There was more than 4,000 people! His disciples worried, and told Jesus there was no way they could get enough money to buy food for those people. They forgot who they were talking to. Jesus did a miracle, and provided enough bread and fish for all of them. And he can do the same for us. I want to stop worrying, and I want to remember Jesus. My wife and son need me to do that.
Thank you God, because you are our provider. Thank you God, because you want our eyes on you, so that we can put our time and attention where you want it. Thank you God, because you sacrificed your Son whom you love very much, so that we can be forgiven and saved. Thank you God, for this precious ministry you have given me, to love and serve my wife and child. God, help me to be a good father and husband.

sleeping

Andrew, Blue and YoYo.

YoYo is the orange monkey, and Blue is the other one. I often do skits with them, and YoYo is often worried about if Andrew has a dirty diaper. We find it funny, but if you don´t, atleast you get to see Andrew :)